


She

by SleepingReader



Category: Original Work
Genre: Antique Shops, Dinosaurs, Gen, Raptors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-11
Updated: 2018-06-11
Packaged: 2019-05-21 03:35:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14907549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepingReader/pseuds/SleepingReader
Summary: From writing prompt:Antique, Raptor, Wings





	She

It caught her eye every time, the little golden raptor in the antique shop. There it stood, glimmering like molten gold in the sun. It was a strange little thing, as if it wasn’t made by human hands, but like someone found it in this shape already. Like the earth itself had made it like this. The gold looked soft, but expensive. It swirled around the raptors body. The details on the creature were amazing, showing creases around the eye, the folded metal giving the idea of feathers on its body. Sharp pointy teeth in an half-open mouth. Its ruby eye glimmered cheekily from the perch of the ancient books on which it stood. The books were dusty, but the raptor wasn’t. 

It was the sort of antique shop that’s always closed. The sign up front always begged for patience, declaring the owner would be ‘Back in five minutes!’.  
She wasn’t even sure there was an owner. She peered through the windows again. No one.   
She walked on to school.  
The sign on the door now read ‘Back in four minutes!’ But she didn’t notice. 

School was mundane, even if they were allowed to read books in English class. She couldn’t wait until 4 o’clock.  
The wam sun of summer poured down like molten syrup over the cobblestone street. There was no wind, and the air swirled with dust particles that moved when she walked through. It trickled through the antique shop, making the dust look more dusty and the golden raptor shine like anything. She decided to look at it a little more. She had never gone in. Never had asked about the price of such a trinket. But she loved it from afar, like a single, lonely woman in front of a bridal shop.   
‘Back in five minutes!’ The sign said.   
She walked on home. 

The next morning, it rained, but the raptor in the window seemed to have a sun of its own.   
‘Back in five minutes!’ The sign said.   
She walked on to school. 

When she walked by at 4:15 PM, a ray of sunlight hit a necklace right next to the raptor, but it looked as if the raptor itself was the only shining thing in the shop.  
‘Back in five minutes!’ The sign said.   
She walked on home. 

The next day was Thursday, and her father dropped her off.   
When she walked home, looking at the puddles in the gutter, she saw the raptor reflected from the window in the puddle.   
She peered through the glass again.  
‘Back in five minutes!’ The sign said.  
‘Fine.’ She said. ‘I’ll wait.’

‘Back in four minutes!’ The sign said.  
She didn’t notice. 

‘Back in three minutes!’ The sign said.   
She didn’t notice.

‘Back in two minutes!’ The sign said.   
She didn’t notice. 

‘Back in one minute!’ The sign said.  
She didn’t notice. 

‘Back in thirty seconds!’ The sign said, and started counting down.  
She noticed.   
Under her breath, she counted down with the sign. The numbers seemed to go faster sometimes, slower other times. 

‘Five’  
‘Four’  
‘Three’  
’Two’  
‘One’

The sign disappeared. Her hand hesitated on the doorknob. The raptor glimmered in the sunlight.   
She opened the door. It opened with a polite-sounding _ding!_ , as if the door didn’t want to disturb the inhabitants of the shop.   
‘Good afternoon, miss.’ A voice even politer than the bell rang through the shop. An elderly man that she swore she knew stood behind the glass-topped till. ‘Thank you for your patience.’ He said.   
‘Uh.’ She said. ‘I like your sign?’  
The man inclined his head in thanks.   
She looked around at the shop. It was normal, but still odd. Dried herbs hung from the ceiling. Every single table was covered with old books or trinkets. A chipped teapot. A huge pair of wings on the wall. A metal gnome. A knife made out of bone. An oil lamp. A rusty sword lay in the till under a pair of white gloves. A set of keys right next to them. She bent over to take a closer look.  
‘Belonged to a monastery.’ The man said off-handedly. ‘The monastery is a ruin now, but the keys survive.’ He said it as if he knew she was procrastinating on the real question.   
‘That’s pretty cool…’ She said.  
‘Anything caught your eye, miss?’ The old man asked. ‘Something worth waiting five minutes for, perhaps?’   
She took a step backward, then smiled back when she saw the man’s kind expression. The sort of expression that said ‘We both know you’re here for a reason, and we both know we’re both not good with people, so let get this over with’  
‘Actually, yeah.’ She said. ‘The little golden dinosaur - the raptor - in the window.’  
The man’s eyes lit up.   
‘I had been wondering when someone would come for the little raptor.’ He said, his smile reaching his eyes. ‘I’ll get it for you.’ He reached into the till for the pair of gloves.  
‘I actually was only curious about the…’ she started, but found the man had already gone to the window.   
‘…price.’ She ended lamely.   
The man came back, gently holding the golden raptor in his hands. It fit in the palm of his hand, yet the man held it like it was a small moth that needed to be transported. He gently set it on the till.   
‘Would you like to touch it?’ He asked.  
‘Do I need the-‘  
‘The gloves? No. No, those are for me. Go ahead.’ He mentioned to the raptor.   
She touched it. It felt warm. As if it was warmed by the sun, or by the man’s hand.   
‘Can I pick it up?’ She asked. The man nodded.   
She picked it up. It felt exactly right.   
‘What’s the price?’ She asked.   
The old man smiled.   
‘Do you want to know the price or the cost?’ He asked. She raised an eyebrow at him. He laughed out loud this time.   
‘No, no, sorry, I’m pulling your leg.’ He said. ‘It’s hard not to, when you have a shop like this. It’s 50 pounds.’ He told her.   
She nodded in agreement and fished out her wallet.

She was out of the shop, holding the raptor in her hands like a moth with delicate wings, when she realised that 50 pounds was exactly the price she had wanted to pay. 

She looked at the golden raptor by the candlelight in her room. The gold shimmered, and its eyes glinted. She fell asleep holding it.   
During the night, she dreamt that the antique shop she bought it in had disappeared. In its place was a shop that sold leather jackets. Dream-her wasn’t surprised.   
She muttered and turned over, wrapping herself in the blankets. A moonbeam, streaming like silver through the window, hit the bed.   
The golden raptor clutched in her hand blinked twice, sighed and nuzzled up into her palm.   
It was finally home.


End file.
